My next gig is a 10 minute open spot. No gong. Hooray! But it means I need to build another five minutes onto the back of my current 5 minute set. I'm wondering what to do.
My first five minutes is fairly gag-intensive - mainly because I developed it at gong-shows where you've got to keep people laughing the whole time.
But I'm thinking that it might be good to have a change of pace after the first 5 minutes, as gag after gag after gag can get boring. So maybe I could try a longer story that builds to a punchline.
One format I have tried in my previous incarnation as Tony Cannelloni, was to use an embarrassing story. I once did a gig for a Buddhist audience where I told a story about a woman who had collapsed in the shrine room. Tony gives her the kiss of life and then asks her how she is feeling. "Wonderful!" She says, "Just let me finish my prostrations and we can do it all again!"
OK so that joke might need some explanation.
When a Buddhist is prostrating, they throw themselves down on the floor in supplication to the Buddha as an act of worship. However, Tony, not knowing this, thought she had fainted. By leaping on the woman, loosening her blouse and giving her mouth to mouth, Tony was making something of a faux pas. With that punchline, the Buddhist audience were suddenly aware of the toe-curling cringe-worthiness of the situation and howled with laughter. Job done.
However, I doubt that a crowd of drinkers in a pub in the Black Country will get the "prostration" reference.
Anyway, the point is I am trying to come up with an example of an embarrassing misunderstanding on which to build a new story.
Any thoughts?
Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian
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4 comments:
This doesn't directly answer your need, but perhaps it will inspire an addition to your act. I wanted to share an observation with you to see whether you can work it into your act somehow. You know that the President of the USA has a retreat called "Camp David"...whenever they talk about "Camp David" I get the giggles because it sounds like it should be a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels character...some gender-confused, low-life, east-end villain. e.g. President Bush and Gordon Brown visited Camp David today (to score an ounce of Moroccan Honey hash).
I like it!
My half baked half brained idea: real time comedy. Start off by reminicing about how a factory siren brought back fond memories of the 4 minute warning...set you wondering about what you would do if you had 4 minutes left - supposing it was 4 minutes from now...sex? Not enough time for her as the ladies apparently need 7 minutes while you could get off 2 or 3 times in 4 minutes, and when you factor in all the time spent having to say yes you love her (or respect her if you don't know her very well) plus the risk that you Say Somethng Wrong and Ruin The Moment (thank god not too many left to ruin) it's not worth the even trying. So, looting? Steal something - fast car? - and have a blast? No, not enough time. Same applies to get drunk, eat all you can eat, in fact just about everything. So the reality is you would probably spend your last 4 minutes just pottering about. What a terrible waste etc. Still, you can think of worse things than pottering - for example having to spend the last 4 minutes of your life having to listen to someone else drone on and on...oh! seems we're out of time.
Another fascinating glimpse inside the mind of Guy...
Thanks mate
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